Culver Takes Major Football Honors

Culver City High's 2013 championship football season was officially honored when 15 members including the head coach were named to the 2013 Ocean League all-league team.

The basic procedure for determining the all-league team is that the six league coaches are not allowed to vote for players from their own team. Each coach ranks all the players that are nominated from the other teams in the league.

The Centaurs also brought home three of the league's four most coveted awards. Stanley Norman was named the league's Most Valuable Player, Remy Grundy earned the Defensive Player of the Year award and Jahmal Wright was named Coach of the Year.

Coach Wright spoke about his team's feat. "I was proud of how we finished off our league season by going 5-0. The rewards of that is the amount of all-league players selected from Culver City High School in the league this year.

"Not only were we league champions, we have the league MVP and the defensive player of the year in the league."

Although this was the second time Wright has received the honor, his thoughts were about his players, "It's really more about the players. I really like when my players get the recognition because they're the ones who are putting in all the hard work, the blood, the sweat and the tears."

Centaurs receiving Ocean League Football 2013 all-league honors:

First Team Defense:

Reynard Saxon – Safety (unanimous)

Kevin Beacham - Defensive Back

Fred Wadibia - Defensive Lineman

Second Team Defense:

Jericho Flowers – Defensive Back

Ty'Jason Roberts – Linebacker

Marco Cardenas – Nose Guard

First Team Offense:

Armani Rogers – Quarterback (unanimous)

Marcus Moore – Receiver

Alfredo Mendoza – Offensive Lineman

Danny Mora – Offensive Lineman

Second Team Offense:

Donavan Davis – Running Back

Lonnie Walker – Wide Receiver

Remy Grundy – Defensive Player of the Year

Stanley Norman – Most Valuable Player of the Year

Jahmal Wright – Coach of the Year

Junior defensive back and wide receiver Norman received the league's top honor for his explosive plays, for being a constant force on both offense and defense as well as for being the league's premier kickoff and punt returner.

Wright was to the point. "Stanley Norman was voted the Most Valuable Player of the league for what he accomplished on the field. When you have a talented player on the opposite side of the ball you always want to account for where he is." The league's five other coaches were in agreement.

Senior linebacker Remy Grundy shared Defensive Player of the Year honors for driving a relentless and galvanized Culver defense into becoming the league's most impressive unit. Its impact was the greatest determining factor in the year's two biggest wins against rivals Inglewood and Santa Monica.

Wright commented, "The other coaches saw the amount of plays that Remy Grundy made during the course of the season. He was the main contributor on our league championship defense. He had numerous tackles, numerous tackles for loss. He was the quarterback of the defense and the other opposing coaches definitely recognized that he was the main part of our defense."

Fred Altieri

Reynard Saxon

Culver had the most players chosen for all-league status with a total of 15. Santa Monica followed with 12, including senior linebacker Terrance Jackson also sharing the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Inglewood had nine members selected including senior wide receiver Zaire Andre accepting the Offensive Player of the year award. Hawthorne, Morningside and Beverly Hills had seven, five and four players respectively making the Ocean League 2013 All-League team.

Wright summed it up. "For us to have an all-league quarterback, two offensive linemen, one receiver and with the amount of defensive players being honored is a credit to the hard work of the team. I'm proud of the individuals that received the rewards."